"Let me say one more thing about Kobe. He will be the best player in the history of the game. If he keeps doing what he's doing, there is no stopping him. He is that good." - Shaquille O'Neal in his autobiography, "Shaq Talks Back"

laugh my butt off at attacking my being a fan. whatever, I don't need to defend myself to someone i don't know or care about.

therealdeal wrote:

venky wrote:Meh, I'm just keeping consistent with the hater logic that if you aren't the man, you aren't the better player.

Kobe wasn't really the better play back then though anyway. For a good 4 year stretch (99-03) Shaq was the most dominant force the League has seen in the new era. He was unstoppable. Kobe ranked a close second. Maybe 2002 Kobe pulled up even i think. But who cares what haters say? Kobe has the rings.

Oh for sure, I wouldn't dare say Kobe was better than an absolute prime Shaq. But that still didn't stop people from discrediting Kobe from his rings and using terms such as "he wasn't the man, Shaq was." I guess you're right though, who cares. Just sit back and watch the Lakers pass Boston.

venky wrote:This team goes as Kobe goes. He is our first option and our closer and he, not Dwight at this point, can be counted to lead the team to the promised land. .

What does this even mean?

I see zero argument for Kobe over Dwight. If you are a Kobe-fan first and want to believe he is still is the best then man up and admit it instead pretending like you are a fan of the team and not the player.

venky wrote:This team goes as Kobe goes. He is our first option and our closer and he, not Dwight at this point, can be counted to lead the team to the promised land. .

What does this even mean?

I see zero argument for Kobe over Dwight. If you are a Kobe-fan first and want to believe he is still is the best then man up and admit it instead pretending like you are a fan of the team and not the player.

I think KG was a top 5 player for the 2nd half of last season and the post-season, but I don't think he will be able to do it again which is why i left him out. It felt like he was just going all out bc he thought it might be his final season.

I'd prefer the ranking be done by former players. They played against these guys, they know the game better then most of these pencil pushers, they know who's good and who is not.

I'd like to see the standard deviation of the votes.

I'd like to see the ballots.... Knowing how BSPN works I'd guess that they made up a list and then told the "experts" what the results were...... The "cross marketing" this list has already created for them is evidence that this is a tactic to get people engaged and listen to the Mike and Mike's, Skip and Screamin' A, PTI and so on because everyone of them is bringing up this list..... The guy who came up with this in marketing deserves a cookie.....

"If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." Winston Churchill

“The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded."Dwight Eisenhower

"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it"Thomas Sowell

venky wrote:This team goes as Kobe goes. He is our first option and our closer and he, not Dwight at this point, can be counted to lead the team to the promised land. .

What does this even mean?

I see zero argument for Kobe over Dwight. If you are a Kobe-fan first and want to believe he is still is the best then man up and admit it instead pretending like you are a fan of the team and not the player.

"The first time I ever saw my uniform hanging in the locker I put it on right away, and it just felt like I was putting on golden armour. From that day forward, I just called it 'the golden armour', it just felt like there was something mystical and magical about it" - Kobe Bryant.

venky wrote:This team goes as Kobe goes. He is our first option and our closer and he, not Dwight at this point, can be counted to lead the team to the promised land. .

What does this even mean?

I see zero argument for Kobe over Dwight. If you are a Kobe-fan first and want to believe he is still is the best then man up and admit it instead pretending like you are a fan of the team and not the player.

Wow. Wade, Dirk, Love, Westbrook, all better than Kobe? Come on, especially Dirk, he stunk it up most of last season. Paul, Dwight, and Rose are debatable, LeBron and Durant are IMO not debatable, better than Kobe at this point. Dwight's great, he really is, but he had some stinkers last season, very low scoring games, which you never get from Kobe. Until I see Dwight be the man of our team, a guy who can close games with his limited offense and poor free throw shooting, I'm not calling him better than Kobe. And as for your comment that if anyone thinks Kobe is better than Dwight they are a Kobe-first fan and not really a Laker fan is just insulting and I really don't see what you're trying to accomplish with a comment like that other than bait people. Aldridge right behind Kobe? Please. Kobe was the 2nd leading scorer in the NBA last year, he's still a guy that can carry you to tons of wins, he's still elite, and there still aren't many players that can do all he does.

Weezy wrote:Until I see Dwight be the man of our team, a guy who can close games with his limited offense and poor free throw shooting, I'm not calling him better than Kobe.

Weezy's on the dark side!!.....

Welcome... have a seat.... there's a lot of empty ones.....

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have Dwight, I do think he's the best center in the NBA, he just has flaws. I'm thrilled to have him because of his defense and rebounding and strength down low that allows him to score easy sort of like Shaq. His offense is limited, but he seems to consistently working on it so I'm not worried if he does become our franchise player. I just need to see it first, for the him to take winning and losing a little more serious and to be able to be counted on at the end of games.

Deron Williams - “I hate ’em, you know,” he said the other day. “I hate the Lakers. They’re so good. I hate them because they win all the time. They’re a tough team. … We definitely talk about it. It’s not a secret. We hate the Lakers.”

Weezy wrote:Until I see Dwight be the man of our team, a guy who can close games with his limited offense and poor free throw shooting, I'm not calling him better than Kobe.

Weezy's on the dark side!!.....

Welcome... have a seat.... there's a lot of empty ones.....

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have Dwight, I do think he's the best center in the NBA, he just has flaws. I'm thrilled to have him because of his defense and rebounding and strength down low that allows him to score easy sort of like Shaq. His offense is limited, but he seems to consistently working on it so I'm not worried if he does become our franchise player. I just need to see it first, for the him to take winning and losing a little more serious and to be able to be counted on at the end of games.

No...no.... I agree with everything you just wrote.... but the thought that he's our best player is way... way premature and based in no body of work that shows he can be "the man" when it's close in the 4th as you said..... I sincerely hope he becomes that guy but he isn't now.....

"If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." Winston Churchill

“The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present - and is gravely to be regarded."Dwight Eisenhower

"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it"Thomas Sowell

Weezy wrote:Until I see Dwight be the man of our team, a guy who can close games with his limited offense and poor free throw shooting, I'm not calling him better than Kobe.

Weezy's on the dark side!!.....

Welcome... have a seat.... there's a lot of empty ones.....

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have Dwight, I do think he's the best center in the NBA, he just has flaws. I'm thrilled to have him because of his defense and rebounding and strength down low that allows him to score easy sort of like Shaq. His offense is limited, but he seems to consistently working on it so I'm not worried if he does become our franchise player. I just need to see it first, for the him to take winning and losing a little more serious and to be able to be counted on at the end of games.

No...no.... I agree with everything you just wrote.... but the thought that he's our best player is way... way premature and based in no body of work that shows he can be "the man" when it's close in the 4th as you said..... I sincerely hope he becomes that guy but he isn't now.....

It's definitely premature. Dwight himself said he was excited to learn how to be a leader, meaning he doesn't know how to do it yet.

Oh boy that's a good one, I think I'll bookmark this page and save that one for come playoff time. Not top 20, talk about an overreaction, name me 20 players better than Kobe, I'd love to see the list.

Yes Roos, I agree. Again, thrilled to have Dwight, he IS a franchise player, he is absolutely a top player in the league, but he hasn't proven to me to be that guy that has the drive and will to win like Kobe has, so I can't say he's better. I can't say you can't debate it because Dwight is in his prime and seemingly continues to improve, but he took his team to one Finals and while that was quite an accomplishment, he did kind of get contained by Pau Gasol that Finals, sometimes even downright shut down by him.

D12 at 3 is reasonable. No one impacts the defensive end like him. Far and away the most dominant defender in the league. That alone is worth a lot.

Kobe has declined athletically. That's he still as high as 6 at 34 is testament to his skills and his fitness. But he is declining, just no way to get away from that. If the team wins at least one title during the two years left on his contract, I won't be surprised if he hangs up his sneakers at that point.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.